Manufacturing has returned (slowly) but it's been in the form of automation, not jobs.

At this point nobody's going to be surprised if any device tested has blatant security flaws. The only interesting story would be if someone found a device with no actual flaws. That would be news.

I don't see why bricklaying couldn't be automated.

We used to just call it "pouring cement" and "laying bricks" but now that additive manufacturing is such a big hit we have to call it 3D Printing.

If that were the case, I can see how it would promote the introduction of invasive species. That is, if you have a fishing lodge on Lake Somechamacallit, and you have to pay for a license to fish native species, why not then just import a breeding pair of invasive species, let nature run its course for a few years, and then fish all you like?

However, what's particularly weird, when I hear about software-based automotive recalls like the Toyota accelerator stack overflow bug, is that automotive companies don't seem to have to be certified to anything near the machine safeguarding standards we use to certify factory-floor automation. Nowadays a piece of equipment on the plant floor is pretty much provably safe to operate assuming you don't start disassembling it with a screwdriver. I don't see any such methodology being applied to vehicle control systems.

Agreed, if Google wants to do this, maybe they should also become a free Certificate Authority. Wouldn't that tick off the Verisigns of the world...

HTTPS isn't about logging in, it's about encrypting the data between the server and the client with a one-time key. So it isn't about proving you're a cat, it's about preventing an eavesdropper from knowing which cat pictures you looked at (they still know you went to a cat picture blog).

My significant other deals with teenagers all the time in schools, and it's amazing how many of them get irate when parents/teachers/police start to question them about stuff they posted on Facebook. The content usually comes to light because one of their "friends" have showed the authorities the content, or in some cases the teen actually friends the teacher/police officer. Their typical response is, "that's my private Facebook page!"

Pullleeeze. To even suggest that is to suggest that the persecution of nerds is equivalent to the persecution of African American minorities in the United States. Certainly nerds are persecuted, particularly in high school, but they are in no way equivalent. Besides, it's not like the show doesn't make fun of people who are "smart and good looking".

Just because I'm sure that *somebody* is talented enough to do that and get away with it doesn't mean I think that *I'm* talented enough to do it. :) If I were, why would I be worried about online voting?

Which is why I don't understand how you could go on to making your 3rd comment after your 2nd comment calls it a fallacy.

You define productivity in a weird way if you think that walking into all the factories and breaking all the equipment makes all the people there more productive.

Just remember that the people who had the surgery and went blind probably aren't reading or posting on /. anymore.

Why is anyone complaining about this? It's a well-known problem, even in smaller cars but especially in minivans, that the people in the rear seat can't easily hear the people in the front seat, so the people in front typically have to raise their voice. This is simply because they're facing forwards. People in the front have no problem hearing the people in the back. So this new feature certainly makes sense as it amplifies the front seated person's voice but not the people in the back. This will actually prevent people from shouting. The parents don't start by shouting... it's more like:

Child: why do they paint road signs yellow?

Mother: so they stand out better and you can see...

Child: Mommy, why do they paint road signs yellow?

Mother: SO YOU CAN SEE THEM EASIER!